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CLUB OF PROBLEMS ist eine ganz neue Band aus Freiburg im Breisgau - die vier Typen dagegen sind längst erfahrene Hasen auf dem Gitarrenpop-Dancefloor. Jeremy James, Purple Reinhard, John Pelzer, Jackson Bollock - man kennt sie u.a. von Gringo Mayer, Prisoners Of Freedom, The Seducers, Serial Off, Neo Rodeo, Backslide, BAR, Virage Dangereux, Nicolas Sturm, Jimi Satans Schuhshop, Achtung Rakete, The Hojos, Institute Of Modern Melancholy. Außerdem: Unbedingt "Öffentliche Telefonbuchlesung" antesten.. Endlich bringen sie für ein gemeinsames Debütalbum all ihre Qualitäten zusammen: Melancholisch und schwer, dabei tanzy und mindestens so beknackt wie diese Zeit. Zwischen Pop, Folk, RnR und Punkrockbasis, zwischen Irrsinn, Unsinn und Sinnlichkeit. 11 Songs, die unsere alltägliche Gegenwart demontieren und als absurd ohrenschmeichelnde Stücke neu zusammensetzen. As big as it get"s!

You may ask yourself what lies beyond the cumbia? What psychedelic permeations reveal themselves in the breaks of the modern day tropical wave? La Banda Chuska's debut single on Names You Can Trust provides a glimpse into the broad benchmarks of this new noise and language, channeling and surfing through a barrel of rip-roaring guitar licks to create something decidedly distinct and du jour at the same time. Just imagine if the B-52s got trapped in some sort of demented Pacific-Peruvian time warp and were forced to shred their way back into existence, bongos in tow. Come along for this excellent adventure and experience for yourself, the tropical waviness of La Banda Chuska's colorful crush.

Repress! PRESSED ON BLUE & WHITE SWIRL VINYL! Housed In A High Gloss Jacket With Each LP Tucked Into A Printed Inner Sleeve

Nasir "Nas" Jones' 2001 record Stillmatic was considered a major comeback for the 90s rap icon. It signalled a return to the gritty, urban chaos of his acclaimed debut album, after releasing record after record of gradually more mainstream material, and Nas' return to prominence in the highest echelons of hip-hop. In spite of this newfound critical clout, Stillmatic's release did nothing to squash his then ongoing feud with fellow New Yorker Jay-Z, who had gone so far as to challenge Nas to a pay-per-view rap battle. A challenge Nas rejected, stating "If Jay-Z wants to battle, he should drop his album the same day I do and let the people decide." Nas fans never would get the no-holds barred lyrical battle with Jay-Z many had speculated. What they got instead was one of Nas' most personal and introspective releases to date in 2002. Not long after Stillmatic's release, Nas spent much of his time away from the limelight to tend to his ill mother, who would pass on from breast cancer in 2002. His experiences with his mother's mortality as well as the fallout of his feud with Jay-Z, who continued to produce diss tracks as Nas tended to his mother, would inspire much of the lyrical material on his next record. God's Son was released in December of 2002, and like Stillmatic before it, was subject to major critical acclaim. On God's Son, Nas effectively took the battle-hardened demeanor he had cultivated and tore it down across 14 tracks that were emotionally insular, though still dusted in urban grit, and still finding time to shoot back at Jay-Z's potshots on tracks like "Last Real Nigga Alive" and "Mastermind." Assisting Nas was a slew of top-tier producers like The Alchemist, Eminem, Ron Browz, and Salaam Remi, over samples of James Brown, the Incredible Bongo Band, Fela Kuti, and Beethoven, and guest vocals from Alicia Keys, Kelis, Claudette Ortiz of City High, and even a posthumous 2Pac.

Introducing the next release in Names You Can Trust's long-running collaboration with the prolific and symbiotic musical universe of Bogotá, Colombia. Mau Gatiyo y Los Años Maravillosos formed in 2021, arising from the very same fertile ground of the Teusaquillo neighborhood that has spawned many records and musical mischievousness. At the heart of this experimental movement is what can only be described asTropicanibalismo, where a deep hunger for the roots of Colombian tropical music are only satiated by dissecting it, consuming it and ultimately creating something new again as some kind of untraditional, unholy, and yet referential form of musical sustenance.

Within this concept, there's a clear lineage of inspired and visionary artists that have been featured throughout NYCT's record catalog for the last 15 years that includes luminaries Frente Cumbiero, Meridian Brothers, and Romperayo. Each of these artists' tentacles have touched several parallel projects from their talented neighbors and friends, and whether through production, playing, engineering, or mixing, these collaborations have heavily contributed to a very fruitful and colorful scene that could only exist within Colombia's capital, while also gaining notoriety in the nooks and crannies of northern latitudes like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Mau Gatiyo, a talented accordian player and vocalist, together with his group (translated as The Wonder Years), is precisely one of these projects, a collective that has found their calling in the echoes of thevallenatosandcumbiasthat once populated the nation's airwaves throughout the 20th century. It's a traditional format that has always lent itself to storytelling, whether it be anecdotes about daily life, or using one's voice to raise uncomfortable questions in protest against the system. This is where Mau Gatiyo's poetic, almostnew wavetimbre finds a lane of its own, straddling a 2020s societal landscape under the guise of ostensibly old-time accordion music.

The debut 7-inch from the group, an excerpt from their recently released album Baño Unisex, was recorded at Mambo Negro studios by Ivan Medellin (La Sonora Mazurén) and mixed by Eblis Alvarez of Meridian Brothers, both familiar names and contributors to the NYCT catalog. Alvarez himself, who has emerged in recent years as an international beacon of this new tropical avant-garde, is no stranger to flipping traditional styles on their head, or at least respectfully off-kilter. Mau Gatiyo y sus Años Maravillosos proves to be another great vessel for this veryBogotano expression, draping the classical playing of its group members in a modern day cosmopolitan expression of righteousness, both outwardly in their dashing, performative fashion sense, and lyrically with their cheeky "420, Reloj"ganja-tune promotion – or even their outward dissenter objections to paramilitary and firearm power in "Poder Militar."

Ultimately, these songs lie at the crossroads where two cultural eras connect and become something unique, a protestation one with performance, dance, and artistic expression. This cathartic ritual of protest has a storied history in music, and these two new entries into the NYCT catalog will hopefully find their place amongst a modern day canon, or at the very least, have your feet moving and your head nodding in just approval.

Estamos entusiasmados de anunciar el repress de nuestra primera referencia.

Parece que fue ayer, pero han pasado 5 años desde su lanzamiento, un momento que marcó un hito en la historia del mundo del vinilo y la música electrónica. El álbum fue un éxito instantáneo, volando de las estanterías y agotando todas las unidades en cuestión de meses.
¡Pero la espera ha terminado! Ahora tienes la oportunidad de poseer una pieza de historia con este repress limitado. Solo 200 unidades en vinilo de color rojo sólido están disponibles, meticulosamente remasterizada por el legendario Simon Davey en “The Exchange Vinyl” para esta ocasion.

y celebrar el quinto aniversario de este álbum icónico. ¡Haz tu pedido antes de que se agoten!

Así que, queridos melómanos, prepárense para celebrar el quinto aniversario de este álbum icónico.

Este repress es un tesoro que debes tener en tus manos. ¡No pierdas esta oportunidad de ser parte de la historia y haz tu pedido antes de que se agoten!!

Renowned Berlin-based DJ and producer Paàl returns on Fides Records with his latest EP “Echo Park” due for release on 20.03.24. Following his single 'Green Lawns', this upcoming EP marks the label's 19th vinyl release.

Echo Park EP unfolds as a four-track demonstration of Paàl's distinctive 90s hardgroove techno interpretation, artfully blending in Detroit and Chicago sounds, Funk influences and a French-house flair. The EP radiates his signature energy, merging uplifting and rolling grooves with tribal percussion and catchy chords to create entrancing and timeless dancefloor tools. His approach to music production is a testament to his deep involvement and dynamic presence in the scene, solidifying his role as an inspiring figure in underground culture.

Special new 25th anniversary edition of this most popular and highly-acclaimed of all Soul Jazz Records' Dynamite! series - 300% Dynamite is jam-packed with reggae tunes that crossed-over to become dancefloor hits and are 100% guaranteed to rock any party!

Out of print for the last 15 years, this new edition is being released in a one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition yellow coloured vinyl pressing + download code exclusively for Record Store Day 2024. This album is fully remastered, relicensed and with new tracks exclusively for RSD 24. Wayne Smith's booming anthem "Sleng Teng", Althea & Donna's worldwide hit 'Uptown Top Ranking', Sister Nancy's classic "Bam Bam", Augustus Pablo, Lee Perry - it's all here as 300% Dynamite joins the dots between reggae, jazz, funk, dub and soul.

Garth Erasmus is an artist and musician based in Cape Town, South Africa. 'Threnody for the KhoiSan' is his first album under his own name. Since 1985 his artistic interests have broadened to include music-making, designing and making his own instruments based on indigenous KhoiSan knowledge. From 1999 to 2012 he was a member of the South African First Nation activist group Khoi Khonnexion. In the past couple of years Garth Erasmus has also been a pivotal part of various international performance pieces and exhibition projects which brought him regularly to Europe. Most of these activities were developed and performed in collaboration with the Hamburg based band Kante and his band Khoi Khonnexion. In April 2024 Garth Erasmus will be part of the group exhibtion 'Oscillations' at Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

His works in music are predominantly characterized by a restless quest for alternative forms of expression and materials including self build instruments, field recordings or various electronic music devices.

In this context the music on 'Threnody for the KhoiSan' takes on a primal and metaphorical meaning. Rather than a formal, physical initiation, this process is more spiritually inclined, yet it is a spirituality which is consistently put into action.. “Ever since I was an art student I have experimented with alternative materials to release me from the Western education values I received. When I started to make these instruments in the 1980s, my intention was to create art objects but when I discovered the sound they made, it unlocked a door that transported me deeper in my quest in the realization that I was on the right path.

In fact all instruments which appear on 'Threnody for the KhoiSan' are products of a process of discovery starting from square one. All this is based and founded on the beauty of simplicity and minimalism as symbolized by the single string Khoisan musical bow and arrow as trance musical instrument. In this sense it soon became manisfest for Garth Erasmus to combine the bow instruments with various electronic instruments. Besides developing his own unique language in music he also shared an expressed interested in experimental sound aesthecis, Avantgarde composition and Free Jazz. However, his non - academic approach towards sound and music was always fueled by the desire for a reconnection to the land and to the idegenious knowledge of the KhoiSan, whose struggle for First Nation status continues.

Song for Morenga
This song is dedicated to a guerilla leader, named Jacob Morenga, who was the leader of the nama/herero anti-german uprisings that occured between 1904 and 1907.

Amaseh Amen
This is a classic mouthbow piece that conjures the spiritual nature of Khoisan cultural praxis.

Gwaing Reverie
It was composed as a personal gift to the other members of newly formed electro-acoustic trio „Gwaing". „Gwaing" is an ancient Khoisan place name, meaning the mouth of the river.

Mcinci Song
A typical meditation on the traditional Mcinci flute. This flute was originally played by shepherds and was made of reed.

The Ascension of Milford Graves
This piece attends to capture the risen spirit of the legendary African American drummer Milford Graves. It was composed soon after his death in 2021.

Song for The Sisters of the Soil
A live improvisation dedicated to Lucelle and Melissa (The Sisters of the Soil) on the occasion of visiting them at their residence, known as „Oppieyaart" on the Cape Flats. On 10 September 2022 there is an online event with them at Kunsthaus Hamburg.

Originally released on tape by SicSic in 2014, Aprilnacht commemorates a decade of music from Brannten Schnüre and marked the spring in a tetralogy of albums about the four seasons when it came out. Back then the Würzburg-based project consisted solely of Christian Schoppik, who later welcomed Katie Rich to take over the vocals. He used to perform as Agnes Beil, but dropped the name when, while making this album realized his music was becoming "much gentler and more fragile". Aprilnacht already captured the particular musical ideas that Schoppik would thoroughly keep exploring, delving deeper and deeper into the use and manipulation of samplers from sources so diverging as to wander between the five continents to post-war German family television and cult cinema. Heir of the ritualistic intensity of Coil, of the intricate sampler assemblies of Ghédalia Tazartès', and of the dusty, dismal old ballads from around the world, Brannten Schnüre manages to make these paths cross in a territory that is as inherent as it is uncanny; sieged by the past and intimate as a hearth. An organic approach to folk, ambient, and sound collage, where ethereal yet thoroughly textured pieces coalesce in enthralling, delicate, and innermost musical rituals.

The album cover paintings reveal the temper: dreary old towns where shadows come to dim the slow passage of crepuscular colors, a soft area of reanimation where wind and light come close and foresee the night of spring. Aprilnacht was inspired by the stories of German philosopher and writer Friedrich Alfred Schmid Noerr, whose work exhaustively examines the conflict between paganism and Christianity, safeguarding myth in a way that Schoppik describes as boldly modern, humorous and unpredictable in its variations of the Germanic folklore motifs. "I wanted to do the same with the music," he states, and the music here could as well be suitable for a night when household deities welcome wandering will-o'-the-wisps, water nymphs, and gyrovagues to discuss Perchta's leadership of The Wild Hunt, but this album is not a folk tale, it's not an elegy to worlds already gone, hidden in years; it's an intersection of routes that open mysteriously before our ears like a congregation of vapors. Aprilnacht is a gathering of voices; "There are too many children, and none of them keeps quiet," reads the last verse of «Requiem für eine Ringelnatter.»

Sensuality drips over the music to celebrate both the voluptuousness and tragic quality of nature; "It's raining on me, urine from your flowers," Schoppik sings in «Urin deiner Blüten» and later on, faced with a snake's erotic features, as if he wanted to be embraced by it: "Your quick, sharp tongue and your warm venom; that's what the pond is missing." Orality is where this profusion of contents thrives. When the voices get closer and condense, the words reveal the saliva employed to pronounce them; we feel the mouth and the tongue, but when breath envelops them in sorrow and softens their edges, they sound distant, diffused in the atmosphere, letting go of the body that held them. These two vocal facets oscillate permanently and interact naturally with the fertile assembly of samplers and instruments that develop throughout the album, which condense and disperse impersonating each other, interweaving to search for a specific syntax. Tangled whisperings of enigmatic phrases, timid voices that stick out to check the scene but hide away quickly, shivering trance chants and monastic ambiances, distant screams and clamors in between chaos and warfare swirl until bursting into subtle songs where even Mother Mary comes forth softly. Soothed by foggy atmospheres and crackling punctuations, these voices shape a vulnerable crowd, an occasion of fragility. Along this swarm of songs thrown into thin air, accordions sound like heavy-breathing lungs; clarinets sigh like curtains shaking; violin solos wander around like bees; Gjallarhorns cries distend like fleeing cattle; glockenspiels evoke remote music boxes and inherited toys; backward emanations emerge like slender waves retreating. On the banks of stretching loops and ember textures is where the songs slowly nest, collecting the words to find their tone.

A poem by Jorge Teillier says, "To talk with the dead you have to choose words that they recognize as easily as their hands recognized the fur of their dogs in the dark. To talk with the dead you have to know how to wait: they are fearful like the first steps of a child. But if we are patient one day they will answer us with a flame that suddenly revives in the fireplace." This may be Brannten Schnüre's main purpose: To find the voice to speak to those of whom we were a vision. Not in mourning, but acknowledging the obscure and volatile nature of spring's regenerative force, searching for the treasure of balance, as evidenced in the lyrics of «Requiem für ein Schwalbennest,» "Its nest was destroyed so many times before it was finished, and despite that, the shallow builds as if it is infatuated." The same idea is here in the words of Schmid Noerr, who made poetry an act of resistance to the horror of Nazism; "Since having seen the ability of a brilliant spirit to die, with a calm mouth that everyone saw, health is true again and we affirm it, even if rivers of blood flow." And as we call for the dusk's kindness, waiting to return home and eat with our kin by the stove, our ears become used to the games of the night. We feel like we're rowing on wetlands, while the "moon musick" keeps us vigilant against the slightest movement of water or sweet moan because eeriness here is imperative for survival. Do not succumb to the insipid howl of death, for nothing may last but mutability. You see, the rock has moved a little during the night; the rest is just wind fleeing from the void.

The second studio album by British hyperpop singer and visual artist Hannah Diamond. “Perfect Picture is the pinnacle of today’s hyperpop yet steers away from its once abrasive nature towards a well-rounded, rebooted version: one where all that Hannah is and can be is indeed made picture perfect.” – DIY MAG
Limited Edition 12" Vinyl Record (140g, Black), with full colour labels. Perfect Pink high gloss innersleeve, inside full colour, high gloss flood outersleeve with Perfect Picture album artwork. 4/4 18x24 double-sided Perfect Poster insert, with full colour high gloss flood finish.

Handpicked by Paul himself, Will of The People is a carefully curated collection of 31 tracks from Weller’s extensive cornucopia of tunes that never quite made it to one of his 9 studio albums since 2002. Here is a collection which reminds us that there has always been a parallel narrative to the main recorded output of Paul’s albums and singles. The B-Side, and the remix, is a space in which to explore, experiment, or to flex a different set of artistic muscles.
The story begins back in the autumn of 2003, when the Fly On The Wall 3LP & 3CD collection brought together a wealth of Paul Weller solo recordings that stretched back to 1991. The B-sides, 12” EP tracks, single remixes and ‘live’ recordings featured all had one thing in common, namely that they hadn’t been included on any of his hugely successful solo albums. Furthermore, in many instances, they’d become highly sought after in their original formats and were fetching significant sums from fans and collectors. Will Of The People follows up Fly On The Wall and takes the listener through a similar mix of rarities, this time spanning the period 2002 to 2021.
From covers to eclectic remixes, Will Of The People delivers a scintillating array of songs which skirt across many genres. Here you will find such gems as Paul’s cover of The Beatle’s “Birthday”, released to celebrate Macca’s 70th, and the sparkling disco-ball banger remix of Cosmic Fringes by none other than the Pet Shop Boys. It also includes Paul’s first foray into film soundtracks with the sublime “Ballad Of Jimmy McCabe” from the film Jawbone. Scattered across the tracks are appearances from the likes of Primal Scream, Simon Tong & Graham Coxon.
Will Of The People is released on triple vinyl and 3CD. The album features sleeve notes written by writer and broadcaster John Wilson.

Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti is an Amsterdam-based mutli-medium artist who has worked as a performer, theatre maker, vocalist, visual artist, musician and teacher. Raised in Bolivia within Bolivian and Brazilian families. Her notable musical collaborators include: Alabaster DePlume, jaimie branch, Ab Baars, Wilbert de Joode, Eric Boeren, Mary Oliver, Paul Koek, and The Paper Ensemble. Frank Rosaly is a Puerto Rican drummer, composer, and sound designer with several decades of touring, performing, recording, and creating to his name. Born and raised in Arizona, Rosaly was known for his fifteen years of creative work on the Chicago jazz and improvised music scene, before moving to his current residence in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 2016.

In 1959, a family friend went to the home of Paco de Lucía and Pepe de Lucía where he made several recordings with a Grundig TK46 tape recorder. This tape disappeared in 1967 and, after a long search process, was rediscovered in 2022, when a restoration process started using AI tools.

The historical value of this recording is incalculable and it gathers in 21 pieces an anthology of flamenco where most of its variants are represented (tangos, soleá, seguiriyas, bulerías...).

It is, in short, the definitive recording to illustrate the transition from classical flamenco to modern flamenco as we know it today.

Drab Majesty's third album, Modern Mirror, is a journey of self-reflection, nostalgia, love, beauty, and heartbreak told across eight addictive and emotional synth pop anthems - a seemingly classic tale delivered unblinkingly through the frame of the modern world. Elements of classic tragedy weigh heavily in the reflection of Modern Mirror in songs like "The Other Side", possessing a fundamental sound that is energetic, luminous and hopeful. Fusing the sonic aesthetics of predecessors like New Order and The Cure within the cautious instruction of Greek mythology and modern science fiction, Drab Majesty has birthed a hybrid of dreamy malaise, captured for a future moment. The first single, "Ellipsis", romantically plays up the distorted concept of courting through modern technology in a world that has yet to adapt, while on "Long Division", Deb's resounding guitar cascades around the chorus shared with No Joy frontwoman Jasamine White-Gluz, wistfully warning us against our vanity and self-obsession. Even when hope for everlasting love peeks through in "Oxytocin", a sparkling and stoic track sung by Mona D., we are firmly reminded our fleeting existence. Produced by Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv) with appearances by Jasamine White-Gluz (No Joy) and Justin Meldal-Johnson (NIN, Beck, M83, Air).

White Viny 2024 Repressl

Following the fiery motion and ecstatic energy of their first release, Riga-based imprint 'Tooflie' are back for round two.

Paying tribute to 90s Eastbloc low-brow pop music, four anonymous producers are breaking new ground and breathing new life into the lipstick traces of the kitschy melodies of the era in their edits for 'Tooflie'. 'LKA' boasts galloping percussion, funktastic breaks, and infectious vocals in an epic but sensual dance floor trip. 'KFE' turns into a deep, slo-mo house jam with sharp melodies and soulful vibes.

On the flip side 'MAXIM VS. TDJ' is as high and steamy as it gets with the whole thing sure to boost and uplift any crowd. Building up to its explosive finale 'LIND' goes in slow, with thrilling beats, haunting overtones and a yearning female vocal that slowly but surely rises into bliss.

'Tooflie' is a label that's squarely on the spot, re-imagining unknown sounds from all over the globe into the new sonic grooves for dancefloors and diggers' collections.

Nach den Riesenerfolgen ihres Debutalbums "Mamani" (2002) das viele als den Klassiker der "deutschen Soul Musik" betrachten und dem englischsprachigen Nachfolger
"Born & Raised" (2006) erscheint mit "Maureen" nun Joy Denalanes drittes Album. Nachdem die deutschsprachige Platte schon 2011 direkt in die Top 10 der Deutschen Charts einstieg, erscheint "Maureen" jetzt als zusätzliches Schmankerl in Englischer Sprache, mit einem exklusiven Bonus Track "Steppin' Up" sowie ein einzigartiges Duett mit U.S. R&B Sänger Bilal.
"MAUREEN", benannt nach Joys zweitem Vornamen, ist vor allem ein sehr persönliches Werk, auf dem "Deutschlands Queen of Soul" ihre unterschiedlichen Facetten auslebt, ungeschminkt, reflektiert und nahbar erforscht sie die "zwei Seelen, die in ihrer Brust wohnen" und verschafft ihnen mit dieser fantastischen Songsammlung zwischen Soul, Funk und Hip Hop-Beats Ausdruck und Nachdruck.
"Eine meiner Eigenschaften ist ‚Direktheit' ", sagt Joy Denalane. "Als Mensch und Künstler strebe ich nach der Wahrhaftigkeit, mir und anderen gegenüber." Joy Denalanes neues Album "MAUREEN" ist ein Manifest dieser Lebenseinstellung.

Mexican sensation Pahua comes to Razor-N-Tape via a huge remix project featuring some of the hottest producer names in current outer-national dance music. This special 7 inch version features two newcomers to the RNT remix roster.

On the A side, global groove merchant Poirer delivers a stripped down and hypnotic mix in his signature style Pahua’s uptempo anthem ‘Espantapájaros”.

On the B side, Detroit Latin production legend John Beltran adorns the melancholic ‘Flor de Jazmin’ with a samba-inflected rhythmic foundation and a lush horn arrangement that transports you straight to Cafe del Mar, Ibiza.

This package honors the essence of the original music, while flipping it in quintessential RNT club-ready fashion.

Elevating, uplifting and beautifully arranged. Jasmine Myra's sophomore album Rising builds on the success of her

breakthrough album Horizons to deliver a major statement from one of UK Jazz's rising stars. Produced by Matthew Halsall and mixed by Greg Freeman (Hania Rani, Matthew Halsall, Portico Quartet), Rising delivers a confident and vibrant follow up that joins the musical dots between Myra’s influences Kenny Wheeler, Bonobo and Shabaka Hutchings while delivering something unique, beautiful and profound.

Rising is also the sound of a composer and performer growing in stature and adding extra layers of confidence and poise to both her playing and composing. Aided and abetted by Matthew Halsall who once again lends his production skills, Rising is fuller, richer and deeper as Myra develops her uniquely uplifting sound.



Much like my first album, Rising is a reflection of a period of my life. It is a continuation from Horizons, which was all about my experience during lockdown, and entailed overcoming my struggles with mental health. Following on from that experience, I set out to continue building my self-confidence. This album has an uplifting and spiritual sound, drawing influence from artists such as Makaya McCraven, Bonobo and Shabaka Hutchings.



Rising features the same core of musicians as Myra’s debut album Horizons (Gondwana records GOND052): guitarist Ben Haskins, drummer George Hall pianist Jasper Green, harpist Alice Roberts (who both also perform with Matthew Halsall) and bassist Sam Quintana who collectively bring a deft understating of the subtle textures of Myra’s music and perform with a collective empathy and drive that really pushes the music on a radiant journey. And a string quartet add gently elevating textures to Still Waters, Knowingness, From Embers and How Tall The Mountains.

Following on from 2022’s Sweat Your Prayers, Byron Yeates returns to Radiant Records with Time Machine, his second full release. The label head has established a signature production sound in an impressively short amount of time. Motifs teased in his previous output and that frequent his DJ sets are all at play here in a delightfully restrained fashion: Astral atmospherics, slick, pumping rhythms, playful basslines with skitting and flitting vocal chops are condensed into lush, club-ready arrangements that demonstrate Yeates’ deep dancefloor knowledge and razor-sharp production chops.

EP opener Liquid Sky drifts beyond the clouds and into the club for a hot and heavy hard-house hybrid workout: undulating low end, sumptuous stabs and ethereal pads are meshed together into a mature, modern any-time-of-the night club tool for discerning deejays and dancers alike.

The groove keeps giving-giving on Hyper-Hyper with stomping in-your-face drums, marching bass and vintage house themes stripped apart and put back together to form a track that sits comfortably in the sweet spot between contemporary techno and the more classic club moods Yeates’ has built a reputation for.
So too with Time Machine- the track’s swung bass and percs lay the foundation for a potent dance floor-ready number that touches on the classier strands of 90s tech and euro house, warped and reconstructed for 2023 dancefloors through Byron’s sleek and flirtatious sensibilities.

The EP rounds off with a collaboration Trip To Eclipse with fellow Irish trance auteur Spray. The result is a sophisticated exercise in groove control: Spray’s signature rolling bass sits delicately alongside Yeates’ vox chops and celestial synth moods to form a cutting edge, dreamy, trance-not-trance roller that concludes a sophisticated and refined statement of intent from Byron Yeates.

London-based four-piece Adult Jazz announce their first full-length album in a decade, So Sorry So Slow, out 26 April 2024 via Spare Thought. Alongside the announcement comes lovesick new single ‘Suffer One’ featuring Owen Pallett, a cautious excavation of self and sexuality, clambering across a gorgeously shapeshifting, filmic five-minutes.

Containing some of the band’s most abrasive but gentle, beautiful and melismatic work to date, So Sorry So Slow has many defining characteristics: romance, panic, devotion and remorse, threaded together by an intentionally laser-focused love. It’s deeply personal, bruised and candid in its expressions of tenderness, and deeply pained in its concurrent reflections of ecological regret. Across its hour-long runtime, a delicate, frenetic energy and glacial heaviness coexist, the band pitting those paces against one another. In their richly experimental timbre, dancing strings and fluttering falsettos prang against a bed of brass drones like a wounded bird.

“We started writing in 2017 and began recording in 2018,” says vocalist Harry Burgess. “We genuinely thought it might be finished in 2018! But things kept developing and, having resolutely not struck while the iron was hot, there was no real external push to rush things after that, so we just kept letting things shift and unfold until it felt right. Listening back to my voice notes it’s nice to notice that there are fragments of ideas from the whole period 2017-2023 which have shaped the record.”

Recorded in bursts at studios across London and in the band members’ flats, at Konk, on the Isle of Wight and in Sussex, So Sorry is unambiguous in its evolution. Sonically, there are sparks of the arrhythmic brightness that afforded the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Gist Is its cult adoration, for fans of Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk, but with a blossoming, melancholic darkness often overhead. Piano sprees and luscious string sections appear like low-hanging stars on a night-time drive, whilst plunging vocal distortions and humming brass loops resurrect heavy limbs in a bad dream.

“I usually have objects as kind of totems for ideas,” explains Burgess. “The album initially started out to do with performance… the totem was a head mic, one of the subtle skin-tone ones, discreet on the forehead of a West End star. A number of the first songs in their original forms were almost musical theatre piano ballads. I think that was really a device to write about my life as the ‘main character’ (pre internet-speak reframing): regrets about romance, relationships - unsustainable relationships with the self and others.”

“However, once we started writing, the ideas about unsustainable personal relationships, loving unevenly and heartbreak conflated with a more expressly ecological regret. Like contending with big feelings of loss, endings, beauty, desolation, and with how much joy the earth contains in it. Feeling so much gratitude bound up in waves of sadness. Maybe witnessing a slow-motion goodbye to all that, or its last gasps. I love the earth and the life it supports so much. I love how ecosystems fit together - even the brutal stuff. It may be basic to say, but now is the time to be laser focused on that love. I was thinking about human centrality on earth, us as the ‘main character’, the way that is served by faith and romanticism, and the subsequent disingenuous understandings of our position in the ecosystem, as only stewards somehow, rather than subjects. The totems at this point: a herald’s horn, lorry inner tubes, archaeological tools. I guess from doom, industry, history respectively.”

“Now I would say the record is about gripping. Totems being: crampons, rope, drips, desalination equipment, accruing various survival tech. I think gripping sums up both of the threads. There’s the emotionally correct clinging to the earth that is the substrate of everything we value, or the delusional clinging to our imagined dominant position. But also the practical, technological aspects of creating a sustainable relationship, of remaining here. Then I think of romance again.”

So Sorry So Slow comes out 26th April 2024 on Spare Thought, mixed by Fabian Prynn at 4AD Studios and mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road.

Adult Jazz is Harry Burgess, Tim Slater, Steven Wells and Tom Howe.

Repress!

The publication of "Jet Sounds" in October 2000 and its subsequent release on the international market represented the turning point from the initial productions carried forward by Schema and the new course taken by the label reaching sales of 40,000 copies and still counting. It's the year 2000 and the avant-garde of the new jazz pop Italian scene is called "Jet Sounds". The debut album by Nicola Conte features nearly 20 musicians and moreover the visionary, sophisticated appeal of Nicola with a sound that has already become T . He tells a cinematic story as the images become a soundtrack for the music: Scene 1: A young woman is walking on the sea shore. She's alone, only white sand and crystal blue water by her side. It's late in the afternoon and the sun is glancing over her shoulders while a soft bossa nova fills the air. Scene 2: He's drivin' fast, there's little time left and a man to chase. Like busy spiders working a web, the beat of the big band pulses a 5/4 jazz theme. Scene 3: It's night; the park; shadows following, shadows hiding mystery? Undefined eastern/oriental sounds adrift on a pulsing psychedelic beat. What's the next move...?

2024 Repress

Imagine a held-up-in-traffic Wayne Shorter arriving late to a Weather Report studio session and Joe Zawinul, Victor Bailey, and Omar Hakim filling in the time by jamming on a grooving house cut. Had that happened, it might have sounded a little bit like “It Never Stops,” one of two ultra-fresh tracks on Kaidi Tatham's Yore debut. Jazz and house are obviously distinct genres, yet as this irresistible cut makes clear swing is common to both. The other track, the cerebrally titled “One for the Brain,” locates itself closer to house music proper but is no less appealing for doing so.
Given the jazzy vibe of “It Never Stops,” it's fitting that Benji B once deemed Tatham the "Herbie Hancock of the United Kingdom.” Regarded as one of the originators of the Broken Beat sound, the UK-based multi-instrumentalist has worked with many an artist, from Bugz In The Attic and The Herbaliser to DJ Jazzy Jeff, and his session work credits list Slum Village, Amy Winehouse, Soul II Soul, and others. His own discography includes EPs and releases for labels such as 2000 Black, First World Records, Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, Eglo Records, and now, of course, Yore.


“It Never Stops” rolls in on a wave of silky synthesizer textures and percolating precision with a tight, funky groove that instantly pulls you into its velvety world. Triangles, electric bass, and clavinet add collective radiance to the material as the tune struts its way into your psyche. As if to make the jazz connection even more explicit, Tatham works an acoustic piano solo into the cut's second half before shifting focus back to the groove for the coda. “One for the Brain,” by comparison, digs into its chugging house pulse with fervour whilst also sweetening the arrangement with painterly synth flourishes. This one charges with breathless determination and like “It Never Stops” nods in jazz's direction with the inclusion of a freewheeling piano solo. Every minute and second on this strictly limited 12“ release seem's meaningful. No Represses / Limited 200 Copies.

As mood changers go, this track is up there with the best. Last year whilst DJing with miche at Shapes festival in the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland, a breathtaking yet ominous Alpine sky suddenly became a picture postcard moment. The clouds parted and a double rainbow formed, as miche dropped Studio Rio's bossa nova remake of Bill Withers’ all-time classic 'Lovely Day'. From there, the dancefloor shifted gears and morphed into full-swing feel-good vibes, in a beautiful, spontaneous moment nobody could have planned for.

Mr Bongo now proudly presents a reissue of this brilliant, bossa-channelling Bill Withers reinterpretation from Studio Rio’s 2014 release ‘The Brazil Connection’. Masterminded by the German Grammy award-winning Berman Brothers, the project was born out of their deep love of Brazilian music. “Our goal was to bring the Brazilian joie de vivre to iconic performances by well-known artists. What would these classic songs sound like had they been recorded in the studios of Rio de Janeiro in the first place, with the best Brazilian musicians and arrangers?” the brothers reflect.

Capturing the life force of Brazil, the beating heart that is its music, they set out to find the musicians who would fit best with their concept. Landing in Rio in 2013 a series of coincidences led to them being introduced to their idols Marcos Valle and Roberto Menescal, who both agreed to come on board. The Berman Brothers also wanted to find some of the musicians who recorded with one of Brazil’s most influential composers Tom Jobim. “Fifty years after Jobim made the music that really defines bossa nova, we found that many of his sidemen were still active, including Paulo Braga of Jobim’s famed rhythm section. It was magic; everything just fell into place.”

There's no question that the original of ‘Lovely Day’ is up there as one of the most feel-good, spirit-lifting anthems of all time. Here the brothers, with the help of a whole host of Brazil’s finest musicians, rework Bill’s soul-fuelled groove into a bossa nova slice of sunshine. With the blessing of Bill and Sony, they were given access to the original multitracks so they could incorporate Bill’s vocals perfectly into the new arrangement.

Joy-injected horns and bouncing double bass blend with the smile-inducing samba flavour of Pretinho da Serrinha’s cavaquinho playing. Tying it all together Torcuato Marinao who worked with the likes of Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, completes the line-up as arranger of the songs.

The perfect end-of-the-night track, mood lifter or soul warmer, remakes don’t get much better than this.

Some albums are game-changers in a genre. Take OutKast's Speakerboxxx / The Love Below or Primal Scream's Screamadelica, they observe, study, and then flip what an album can mean to a genre or moment in time.

From the very first listen of Rubel’s Latin Grammy-nominated third album As Palavras, Vol. 1 & 2, you can feel its transformative force for the MPB genre. Here we see one of Rio’s brightest stars, fusing the contemporary with the classic, soaking up the richness of Brazil’s musical heritage. The result is a marauding 20-track epic, incorporating traditional styles such as forró, MPB, pagode and samba with modern baile funk, rasteirinha and hip-hop.

The album exudes a sense of freedom and creativity, playfully and provocatively juggling the familiar with the forward-thinking. The tracks are divided across two records, navigating feelings of love, heartbreak and discovery, whilst balancing themes of violence, passion, irony and affection. Collaborating with some of the country’s most esteemed artists such as Gabriel do Borel, Liniker, Luedji Luna, Tim Bernardes and Ana Caetano, Rubel takes this fusion of styles, subjects and flavours to the global stage.

The grand, forró-blending, choral opener, ‘Forró Violento (Instrumental)’ sets the tone for the album, with references and links between tradition and modernity everywhere to be seen. From the Ana Frango Elétrico produced, funk flexing, samba-soul brilliance of ‘Não Vou Reclamar de Deus’, to the album’s title cut ‘As Palavras’, in collaboration with Tim Bernardes, that melds MPB influences with electronic elements and hip-hop touches.

Across both sides of the album, Rubel’s story-telling gift is given space to shine. ‘Torto Arado’ featuring Liniker and Luedji Luna, beautifully references the racial injustice, tragedy, hope and ambition found in one the most celebrated Brazilian novels of recent times by Itamar Vieira Júnior. Elsewhere, ‘Na Mão do Palhaço’ manifests a satirical march about a suicidal conservative middle-aged man, who is rescued by the miracle of the carnival.

At times the album is gentle and intimate with tracks like ‘Toda Beleza’ featuring Bala Desejo, or the ode to friendship ‘Lua de Garrafa’, composed with the legendary Milton Nascimento. At others, the grooves hit harder, with sounds from the favelas laced within. ‘Put@ria!’, explores the universe of baile funk, with BK’ and MC Carol trading off on the mic, as ‘Rubelía’ moves between reggaeton, funk, and hip hop. The latter is a tribute to a key influence of the album, Spanish star Rosalía and her parallel mix of current with classic.

Ultimately though the beauty of this album lies in its concept. In the midst of a country divided, ‘As Palavras Vol. 1 & 2’ sets out to bring together genres and generations, grounded in rhythms and words that have helped define Brazil through the ages.

Alex Andrikopolous AKA Lex (Athens) released his brilliant debut album Waving in 2022 on Leng and he now returns with an EP combining fine remixes of tracks from Waving alongside two new previously unheard cuts.

The remixes are undeniably special. Fittingly, the EP begins with the first of these, a sensationally sun-soaked revision of one of Andrikopolous’s most Balearic moments – previous single ‘Punta Allen’ – by former Nuphonic fusionists and FAR label founders Faze Action. The Lee brothers’ take is one of those sunset-friendly workouts that wraps glistening guitar licks, steel pan style motifs, Lex’s gorgeous lead lines, hazy electric piano solos and life-affirming keyboard riffs around rolling nu-disco beats and a new rubbery bassline courtesy of Robin Lee himself. It has the feel of a pool-side anthem in the making.

Just as potent is the typically quirky and hard-to-pigeonhole revision of ‘Prezend’ by Manchester maverick Ruf Dug. Here he offers up a genuinely revolutionary rework, re-imaging the track as a sparse-but-colourful fusion of vintage acid house bass, saucer-eyed piano riffs, dubbed-out synth sounds, jacking lo-fi drum machine beats and squelchy TB-303 tweaks. While fresh and undeniably contemporary, the remix has an alluringly nostalgic, retro-futurist vibe.

Clustered around these two top-notch revisions is a pair of previously unreleased Lex originals. He joins forces with regular collaborator Locke once more on ‘Libre De Amor’, an infectious chunk of, low-slung dub disco marked out by weighty bass, jammed-out electric piano motifs, spacey pads, intergalactic effects and mazy synth solos. Dotted with additional percussion hits and echoing female vocal snippets, it’s one of the pair’s most potent dancefloor workouts of recent times.

To round off a rock-solid EP, the Athens-based veteran blurs the boundaries between stripped-back, late-80s house nostalgia and nu-disco. ‘Super Awake’ boasts cowbell-sporting Chicago house beats and acid house inspired bass, on to which he’s layered all manner of colourful synth sounds, jangly piano stabs and spacey electronics. Throw in some typically immersive chords and progressively more psychedelic TB-303 motifs, and you have a genuinely triumphant conclusion to a formidably floor-focused EP.

Mammoth Penguins are a 3-piece indie powerhouse, showcasing the songwriting and vocal talents of Emma Kupa (Standard Fare) backed up by the noisiest rhythm section in indie pop. May 2024 sees the release of their fourth album Here on Fika Recordings. After 2019’s big, bold and confident There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win, and the initial shock of the global pandemic cancelling a trip to SXSW in 2020, the band returned to the studio in the summer of 2021 to start recording. The new record leans into a raw pop-punk power-trio sound more than ever, with a deep growl in layered guitars and bursts of percussion and harmony. The songs and artwork explore themes about finding a place for yourself and familiarity with people and places. Although it turns back towards a classic three-piece sound, the band weren’t restricted by that palette, adding finishing touches of percussion, extra guitars and backing vocals in short bursts in a garden shed, and also bringing in gorgeous strings to sweeten the title track. The sound builds on the band’s first album, Hide and Seek, which was released with the much-loved and sorely missed Fortuna POP! in 2015. The follow-up LP John Doe in 2017 was an ambitious concept album, exploring the feelings of loss and anger at a man who fakes his own death only to return years later, expanding well beyond the 3-piece rock‘n’roll template, with washes of strings, synths and samples. The ‘Penguins have been smashing it at some high-profile support slots in the lead up to this album release, including at Allo Darlin’s joyous reunion at Islington Assembly Hall (Oct 2023) and Muncie Girls last ever London show (Dec 2023). They play the Leicester Indiepop all-dayer and Wales Goes Pop in March, before heading out on tour in support of the new album in May. Those big singalong choruses need your voice shouting back from the crowd with joy and defiance. Mammoth Penguins are Emma Kupa (guitar, vocals), Mark Boxall (bass, vocals) and Tom Barden (drums, vocals). Reminiscent of the pop melodies of The Beths, the indie dissonance of Land of Talk, and the guitar forward slacker rock of Weezer, Mammoth Penguins marry heart-ache indiepop with spiky guitars and Emma’s frank confessional songwriting. “wonderfully awkward indie pop with a literate flair, sounding a lot like a Weezer record or even a more feminine Wedding Present” Clash // “eminently relatable earworms” Brooklyn Vegan // “one of the finest examples of simple and true indie rock around” All Music // “her characterful voice still carrying masses of charm and the messier, grungey approach bringing a strength all of its own, aided by a clutch of cheerful hooks and riffs that contrast nicely with lyrics dealing mostly with heartbreak and misery” Drowned In Sound

Warehouse Find! - Test Pressing!

It seems like ages since we last had Roberto Rodriguez on the label with his excellent Be Somebody back in 2008, so we're plenty happy to welcome him back for a long overdue follow up. Roberto clearly hasn't just been sitting on his arse the last 4 years however, having established the Serenades label which released his own LP Dawn last year, as well as putting out the killer Thinking Of You release on Fina plus numerous remixes for rock solid labels such as Let's Play House, On The Prowl, Moodmusic and 2020 Vision. Those familiar with Roberto's productions and credentials will know he has a fine ear for disco and 90's house born out of years collecting records and DJing in the best clubs in his native Helsinki.
Kicking off with Dance Like Nobody's Watching, we see Roberto tread confidently into pure, unadulterated retro house territory with NJ organ stabs, swinging 909 drum groove and choice vocal hits.
Oxymoron keeps things a little deeper with tracky filtering chords and driving drums resulting in a garage-influenced feel with bucket loads of raw attitude.
Finally we have The Black Madonna on board for a remix of the title track. The Chicago producer impressed us recently with her brilliant disco-infused tracks on Stripped & Chewed and Home Taping labels and thought her the perfect choice to contribute to the release. Here she delivers a lesson in stripped back Chicago warehouse vibes keeping everything to a bare minimum for maximum club bump. Kick, claps and piano stabs form the basic groove as she confidently develops the arrangement slowly and surely.

Together with British folk-pop musician Hannah Rickard, the country music-inspired album "We Talk Too Much" was created in 2019 - an affair of the heart, as the legendary Status Quo founder and frontman says. "My love of country and Americana is well known and has always been present in the background when I've written a song or worked out a melody on my acoustic guitar. Bringing this album to life has been a joy and I hope people can relate to these songs; it's a collection I'm really proud of." "We Talk Too Much" is now released on LP for the first time; "mastered for vinyl" and pressed on 180g black vinyl for the best possible sound experience. In addition, "Broken Memory", written by Francis Rossi and Hannah Rickard, is an exclusive bonus song for this wonderful vinyl release.

Warehouse Find! Test Pressing!

Time for one of Freerange's longest standing regular producers to return to the label for his first EP in three years. The Stepping Tones EP is absolutely classic Shur-I-Kan from start to finish with two original tracks plus a remix from the very excellent Berlin newcomers Kim Brown.

The title track opens with a big, bold, bouncing bassline and driving groove but as we hear the arrangement unfold the layers of keys build and drop bringing the trademark Shur-I-Kan musicality and energy to the track. In our opinion this is one of his strongest tracks yet and we're pretty sure this will be a firm favorite this summer, set to be heard everywhere from Croatian boat parties to Dalston basements and beyond.

Up next we have Kim Brown with their remix of Stepping Tones and what a job! The Berlin duo have made a big impact the last couple of years with their incredibly deep and beautiful Spring Theory and People's Republic releases on Just Another Beat. Completely sublime downbeat deep house is the key here, owing as much to ambient and orchestral music as to the rough and raw lo-slung club beats we're hearing from labels such as Dial and Smallville. Their remix brings rugged drums, dubby keys and lush strings to the fore with the addition of a twisted, filtering vocal enhancing the warm glowing sunrise vibe which emanates from this track.

Conundrum closes the EP with another deep, jazzy and cinematic Shur-I-Kan masterpiece and once again he layers up the textures and harmonic elements slowly and expertly, introducing the little hooks over time until before you know it you're bathed in a warm shower of lushness with tingles running down your spine.

"""Trumpeter, vocalist, songwriter, and producer Keyon Harrold will release his debut album Foreverland, blending a unique hybrid of Jazz and Hip-Hop/R&B on Concord Jazz, January 19, 2024. This special curation of 10 original tracks includes special guests Common, Robert Glasper, PJ Morton, and more. Keyon Harrold was born and raised in Ferguson, Missouri, one of 16 children in a family of musicians. He graduated from the School of Jazz at The New School. Keyon considers Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet, Prince, Dr. Dre, J Dilla, and Common as influences. His first solo album, Introducing Keyon Harrold, was released in 2009 to high praise. During that time, Keyon became a notable crossover performer, becoming a staple of New York jazz clubs and providing instrumentation for recordings by Jay-Z, Beyonce, 50 Cent and touring with Rihanna, Eminem, D'Angelo, and many more. Keyon received wide acclaim for supplying all of the trumpet playing in Don Cheadle's Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead (2015). His sophomore album, The Mugician, released in 2017, was well-received by fans and critics alike.
HIGHLIGHTS: Sold Out 2 x Ronnie Scotts, Jazz FM Playlist, 6Music Support FINANCIAL TIMES ★★★★ – “a closely produced set that supports and surrounds his elegant, soulful fluency with vocals, edgy beats and rap”
THE OBSERVER “genre-defying post-bop” THE OBSERVER ★★★★ Album review"""

The Baby Seals debut album, "Chaos," is a sonic exploration that blends heavy guitars, a pop edge, and a punk rock garage spirit with a heavy attack. The band, comprised of Amy "Amos" Devine on drums and backing vocals, Kate Shore on bass and backing vocals, and Kerry Devine on guitar and lead vocals, delivers a raw and energetic collection that captures the essence of their live performances. Recorded in March 2023 in Thaxted, just outside of Essex, "Chaos" embodies the DIY ethos that has defined The Baby Seals' approach to music. Working with engineer Joe in a secluded outhouse surrounded by fields, the band laid down the tracks live over a day, capturing the unfiltered essence of their sound. Joe's extensive collection of homemade pedals added a unique touch to the recording, while Benny T's mixing expertise brought the album to its final form. The decision to minimise post-production sets "Chaos" apart from previous recordings, reflecting the band's commitment to authenticity and a desire to showcase their growth and maturity. On Chaos Kerry says: “Chaos is the next phase in life for us lasses in the band - babies and mid-life responsibilities. The album definitely is about how we feel and experience the world around us in our 30s and 40s. Someone who heard the album recently said it's like the The Baby Seals have grown up and I liked that because that's what I feel likes happened to me in the last two years… The album definitely has Themes: inclusivity, gender inequality, the mental load, the motherload, power, body positivity, challenging taboos, liberation. The importance of what to take seriously and what not to take seriously. Title track, Chaos is one of the songs on the album which I'd written after a series of events including watching an interview with the late writer Benjamin Zephaniah who said the only way to liberation for all was to tear big governments down and to believe in your community. The cover photo by Jeff Pitcher sums us up and hopefully gives you a feeling of what the album sounds like. Album design was created by Igor Prato Luna, he just seemed to understand what we are about. He referenced loads of wonderful album cover, poster and flyer artwork from the 60s - 90s, and even some fabulous sci-fi artwork from the 1920s and those incredible 1950s sci-fi pulp book covers. Nothing was referenced too heavily, though, and Igor definitely made it his own

Jackpot Records is proud to reissue what many call arguably the greatest album of the punk rock era: The Flesh Eaters’ 1981 punk-noir masterpiece, ‘ A Minute To Pray A Second To Die. Once referred to as an all-star roots/voodoo combo, The Flesh Eaters could only have crawled out of the myst of the late L.A. 70s punk scene. Fronted by punk poet/composer Chris D. (Desjardins), the band was a satellite for exquisite collaborators that allowed him to bring the full force of his dark, messed-up lyrical nightmares. Members of X, Wall Of Voodoo, Los Lobos, The Blasters, and The Plugz all hopped into his unmarked car to take a drive with Chris D. Its grabbed-by-the-throat vocals are powerfully buoyed by the tight melodicism emanating from the players on this record (John Doe andDJ Bonebrake from X, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Dave Alvin & Bill Bateman of The Blasters). Hell, we even get the perfectly executed John Doe original, “Cyrano de Berger’s Back,” which was re-recorded by X in 1987. The creators of this record made a pulp novel for your ears with an equal chance to scar your heart. Do not miss out this is punk noir at its greatest.

“Suddenly it’s ok to be a square” - Twelve Cubic Feet, a clear case of a band which should have been bigger than The Beatles but, for some malignant reason, became a blurry footnote in the history of underground music. Formed from the ashes of Exhibit A in the Spring of 1981, the band disappeared leaving no trace shortly after 1983. During their brief existence they released a series of stickers, a monthly newsletter, two cassette tapes and their incomparable ‘Straight Out Of The Fridge 10”, which was at the very top of our dream records to release since we started Sealed Records. Twelve Cubic Feet released this perfect 22 minute 7 track album in 1982 on Namedrop Records (home to Doof, Philip Johnson and Cold War and ran by Philip Johnson and 12CF guitarist Paul Platypus). It is a glorious scratchy DIY indie pop gem with a post punk spirit. The sound is naive and fragile yet very addictive. Based around jangly clean guitars, drums that are on the edge of falling apart, haunting keyboards and a female vocalist that has a knack for a golden pop hook. Hard not to fall in love with. It’s beautiful with a ragged charm that deserves to be heard by the masses. Anarcho Indie pop anyone?? The band played a lot of the anarcho punk haunts of the early 80’s - Autonomy Centre in Wapping, Centro Iberico and London Music Collective and were equally heralded by punks (Andy Martin from The Apostles released one of their tapes) and the DIY music crowd. The line up changed after the 10” and they recorded a Joe Foster produced demo and fell in with Alan McGee's Communication Club crowd. Twelve Cubic Feet burned bright for just a handful of years and now it’s time to burn bright again. Hopefully this reissue will help them reverse one of their sticker statements “today we’re nobodies but tomorrow you’ll know who we are”. This reissue comes with the 16 page booklet that came with the original 10". Twelve Cubic Feet feature members who did time in bands such as Khmer Rouge, The Reflections, Solid Space, Doof and What Is Oil? Amongst others. For fans of the Marine Girls, Girls at our Best, Hornsey At War, Swell Maps and Postcard Records

Kee Avil's music is both adventurous and intimate, intellectually challenging and emotionally resonant. The Montréal guitarist and producer's 2022 debut LP Crease garnered plaudits from outlets like The Wire, The Quietus, Mojo and Foxy Digitalis, picking up a Canadian Juno Award nomination and Bandcamp Album Of The Day and Albums Of The Year along the way. Its intricate construction, unnerving atmospheres, and knife-edge take on avant-pop prompted comparisons to early PJ Harvey, This Heat, and Gazelle Twin. A remix EP with work by claire rousay, Ami Dang, Cecile Believe, and Pelada brought collaborative perspectives to four Crease tracks, offering new pathways within those songs. With Spine, Kee Avil strips back her heavily textured compositions, opening up a much rawer sound. She calls it folk—and while traditionalists might scoff, this is urgent music that reflects the precarity of modern life, as well as the jarring mixture of electronic and real-world interactions that have become the fabric of our day-to-day experiences. There's a hypnotic post-punk somnambulance to it all, using the repetition and fracturing of melodic phrases interwoven with delicate electronics to create curious and persistent hooks. While not a concept album, themes of time's passage, remembrance, and decay crop up across multiple tracks. Each track intentionally only has four elements—guitar, electronics, and two other instruments, with Kee's voice and guitar pushed to the front. Within this minimalist framework, the juxtaposition of beauty and discomfort that is key to the Kee Avil sound stands out in skin-prickling relief. "We're shaped by many versions of ourselves," says Avil. "I was looking back at these versions of myself and what could have been, what didn't end up being and what did end up being, and going back like that through time. Seeing the future, the past." Spine was written in Kee Avil's home studio after a lapse in writing while touring Crease and working on other projects. She is a well-known and respected member of the Montréal experimental scene, and formerly ran Concrete Sound Studio with Zach Scholes, who continues to work with her as a producer on Spine. Compared to the three years that went into making her debut, Spine emerged in a matter of months—a process that may also be a factor in its intensity and sharpness: "This record was much harder, like it was really discovering everything from scratch." In her desire to not simply replicate or extend the sound of Crease, she felt she had to rip up the rule book, write in a different way, and pare back songs against her usual instincts. Sometimes, when we work against our ingrained habits, we get to the core of who we really are. Spine is an exercise in that process. Without over-intellectualizing or being didactic, it hits immediately and emotionally, especially if you are a person who has spent much time in the process of self-examination. Kee's voice hisses, whispers, and chants; her guitar bends and rings; electronics skitter and crackle; violin creaks like a door in the wind. There is something so evocative about the atmospheres she creates that it's easy to overlay one's own feelings onto her work, but to do that wholly would be to overlook one of the most important things about Spine: Kee Avil's clear and thoughtful vision. This isn't just the next step forward in her artistic trajectory; it's a stunner of a record that stands on its own, a bracing and thrilling listen that has much to reveal about the contradictions inherent in being human. — jj skolnik.

The Flenser is pleased to announce the release of Living Is Easy, the latest EP from ecstatic black metal band Agriculture. Ecstatic black metal from Los Angeles. Follows up 2023’s critically acclaimed debut. A new EP plus first vinyl release of their first EP. Appearing prominently at the 2024 edition of Roadburn. US and European tour dates in the works through 2024. Video for title track featuring Flenser goons, Chat Pile. This new EP will be paired with the band’s debut EP, The Circle Chant. For the first time, both EPs will be pressed together on a single 12-inch vinyl record as well as a cassette format Living Is Easy represents a significant new statement from the band. With their debut self-titled, Agriculture embarked on a journey to explore how heavy music can provide insights into the joys of life, both everyday and divine. Their extensive touring with this material led to a profound experience of ecstasy, surpassing expectations as they shared the intensity and joy of these songs with audiences worldwide. This experience was a catalyst for the band, inspiring them to delve even deeper into the realm of “ecstatic black metal” music. They believes that with this release they have pushed this concept to its limit, resulting in a transformative explosion of sound and meaning. The record delves into themes of community connection, holiness, violence, and the cycles of life. The title track is especially notable, featuring a retelling of a story from one of the Buddha’s past lives. In this narrative, the Buddha encounters a starving family of tigers and sacrifices himself to save them, a tale of serenity and selflessness. This story resonates deeply with the band, reflecting the humility and inspiration they find in their collaboration and echoing the generosity and interconnection they strive to explore through their music. Touring holds a special place in the heart of Agriculture. It brings them immense joy to share their music, visit new places, and meet new people in cities around the world. This constant interaction with diverse audiences serves as a continuous source of inspiration for this work. Agriculture is eager and excited to share Living Is Easy as well as give new life to the first vinyl pressing of The Circle Chant

GoGo Penguin veröffentlichen auf der limitierten 180g Vinyl-EP "From The North - GoGo Penguin live in Manchester" subtile Neu-Arrangements von sieben bestehenden Titeln, die das aus Manchester stammende Jazz-Electronica Piano-Trio während der Konzerte ihrer 2023-Tour weiterentwickelt hat. Auf insgesamt 31 Minuten Spielzeit erkundet GoGo Penguin die Titel "Wave Decay, Ascent", "Friday Film Special", "Everything is going to be OK", "An Unbroken Thread of Awareness", "You're Stronger Than You Think" und "Parasite" vom Album "Everything is going to be OK" von 2023 und der EP "Between Two Waves" von 2022 in neuen, energetischen Live Versionen. "As the music was still fresh for us, it was nice to play it all live together in the same room. Every track that we recorded that day has made it onto the record and we're very happy to share our return to this studio with you".Aufgenommen wurde "From The North" in den legendären Old Granada TV-Studios in Manchester, wo schon die Beatles ihren ersten TV-Auftritt hatten und legendäre Bands wie Joy Division oder New Order ihre Fernseh-Debüts feierten. "Ever since we first stepped into it, we fell in love with the live room. We thought it had brilliant acoustics and the space had a lot of character and a fascinating history."

A tribute to one of the greatest songwriters & artists of our time! Features newly recorded covers from Keith Richards, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen, Rickie Lee Jones, Mary Gauthier, Bobby Rush, Automatic, The Afghan Whigs, and Rosanne Cash. Special Record Store Day Edition pressed on Silver Nugget vinyl and housed in a silver laminated jacket Booklet features liner notes by compilation producer & former Lou Reed publicist Bill Bentley, featuring photos by Mick Rock and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. "To me, Lou stood out. The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL MUSIC! I miss him and his dog." - Keith Richards "Lou seemed fearless to me, like he'd rather die than be a people-pleaser. I took inspiration from that." - Rosanne Cash "Lou Reed is my earliest influence, my introduction to punk rock, and the soundtrack to the beginning of my romance with Maxim." - Angel Olsen "Lou Reed has been gone now for many years. He's one of the few people whom I miss as much now as when he left. There are so many instances where I wonder what he would say or what he would think. His general aura would always lend something really unique to the room. Thank God he left his great music and recordings. His personality is sorely missed. Love you, Lou." - Rufus Wainwright // It goes without saying that the legendary Lou Reed was a true rock 'n' roll pioneer. From The Velvet Underground's debut in 1967 all the way through the end of his days, Reed sang truth from his heart. He lived life to the limit-and then some. The Power of the Heart is a tribute to Reed's freedom of expression with covers spanning his ground-breaking years with the Velvets into his majestic solo career. Each track is a glorious extension of the Rock 'n' Roll Animal's soul, ever adventurous and avant-garde. The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed kicks off with a legend in his own right, Keith Richards, reimagining the Velvets' classic, "I'm Waiting for the Man." Richards' rendition instantly invites you on board this unforgettable ride. In stark contrast, "Perfect Day" is somehow even more melancholy than the original given the Rufus Wainwright treatment, featuring sparse fingerpicking and gentle harmonies. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts deliver a version of "I'm So Free" that would have even Lou rockin' in his grave. It's thrilling to hear these songs reinterpreted and sung by such heavyweights; you can even hear as Lucinda Williams channels the spirit of Lou with her take on "Legendary Hearts." Other notable tracks include a punk-drunk, loved-up duet by real-life lovers Angel Olsen & Maxim Ludwig with "I Can't Stand It," and Rickie Lee Jones' reimagining of "Walk on the Wild Side," both whimsical and enticing with her whispery vocals, stripped-down percussion, and a piano fit for a late-night lounge. This tribute album truly defies genre, but its throughline, in the end, is its heart: a deeply thoughtful collection of songs that shaped a generation, each paying homage to a man whose body of work still sings.

Ice Cream Vinyl

Since the release of their debut studio album Do Hollywood (on 4AD) in 2016, The Lemon Twigs_the New York City rock band fronted by brothers Brian (27) and Michael D'Addario (25)_have waved the same revivalist torch as Alex Chilton and his Big Star crew, working to prove that archaic music from the `60s and `70s can still be relevant in digital world. Alongside peers like Foxygen and Drugdealer, The Lemon Twigs have explicitly documented a synchronistic blend of contemporary narrative motifs, old-school recording techniques, and flawless, consistent attitudes collaged from various crucial stages of rock 'n' roll. After a whirlwind 2023, the D'Addarios are continuing the momentum of their own evolving vision and voice, distilling a history lesson of baroque and power pop into A Dream Is All We Know (out May 3 on Captured Tracks). Garnering the top-to-bottom critical acclaim the brothers have long deserved, their 2023 LP Everything Harmony was spearheaded by an impressive string of singles, including "Corner Of My Eye" and "Any Time of Day." It was the kind of record that put all of Brian and Michael's talents on display, be it the former's multi-instrumentalist gifts or the latter's boyish, explosive pop-rock charisma and eye for engineering and vocal layering. But A Dream Is All We Know is not the acoustic, nylon string-based project that Everything Harmony was. Instead, it's a return to the form the Lemon Twigs first introduced on Do Hollywood_an electric guitar-centric, anthemic assemblage of, really, everything the band does great. These two companion records are an immediate example of a band capitalizing on their fire-in-the-belly appetite to make tunes that boast ubiquitous chemistry. A Dream Is All We Know is grandiose yet grounded; meticulous, yet wild and glowing. Made with analog precision, the album was finished in the immediate months after the band completed Everything Harmony during a vibrant, prolific period split between three studios on separate coasts. A Dream Is All We Know is a profoundly dense and charged album, rife with string arrangements and a sonic thesis statement that has quaked through phases of glam, conceptualism, baroque, and Mustang-loud, stone-cold rock `n' roll for more than half-a-century. A Dream Is All We Know sounds like it's lived a thousand lives already.

It's hard to believe it's been four years since the debut release of The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty's kick excellent debut "Ways of Hearing." But growth takes time and rather than rush a follow-up album to market to capitalize on their newfound success, the group opted to take their time and focus their efforts at their own pace. It paid off.On their much anticipated sophomore album, ambition is key. The name of the album itself "The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" spans a glorious 71 characters and is bound to swallow the screen of whatever device that attempts to display the text. The essence of the album is built upon delicate, pleading vocals that sit atop stirring dynamic movements that seem to move between small and vulnerable to full-on symphonies that are bursting with emotion. "The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" will be released by veteran indie label Count Your Lucky Stars on April 25th, 2024 (an homage to their first released single of the album) during the dead time when the cold end of winter is transitioning to a hopeful and promising spring- an apt metaphor that seems to encompass the heart of the album.

2024 Repress

Mannequin Records is proud to present a full length by the Philly minimal-synth princess Void Vision.
Void Vision is a Philadelphia-based electronic project helmed by Shari Vari. It began around 2009 at a time when a wave of synth-revivalists were materializing, but the quality of the songwriting and intense vocals set the band apart from the pack. In a rare instance, Void Vision has managed to combine vintage dance elements with melodic structures, haunting melancholy, and lyrics that have a palpable soul. The songs themselves are dynamic, referencing a cross-section of the last 30 years of electronic music, while simultaneously retaining a uniqueness all their own.

The infamous Wierd Records weekly club night in New York, which showcased a variety of talented electronic and coldwave artists, served as an incubator for Void Vision in it's early stages. After a standout debut performance at the club, they immediately caught the attention of Blind Prophet Records, who consequently released their first 7" single, 'In 20 Years', which received excellent reviews.

Vari has continued performing and recording steadily over the last few years, releasing songs on compilations for various labels, including Rough Trade, and in 2012 the song 'Everything is Fine' was selected for Artforum magazine's 'Best of 2012' issue. In 2013, Void Vision toured the West Coast and later that year released a split 12" with Portland-based band, Vice Device. The first official full-length album, entitled 'Sub Rosa' is set to debut on Berlin-based Mannequin Records, followed by a European tour in 2015.

Shari Vari formed Void Vision in 2009 originally as a duo, during the explosion of the new minimal synth and cold wave scene in United States. Sharing the same scene of the Wierd Records associates like Led Er Est, Martial Canterel, Xeno & Oaklander, Automelodi, in 2010 VV released 'In Twenty Years' on Blind Prophet (Sean Ragon's Cult Of Youth record label), receiving also the attention of the Rough Trade dudes, who asked to put out a track for one of their synth wave compilations.
After other split vinyls, tapes and compilations, Mannequin approached Shari with the intention to continue what Wierd Records started, giving a proper shape to her beautiful and youthful dark electronic sound. The result is 10 hypnotic cold analog tracks dominated by the warm and fragile Shari's voice, some more 'pop orientated' some others belonging to the original 'cold wave' atmosphere.

"Sub Rosa" is an edition of 400 copies on 160 gram black vinyl and 100 copies on 160 gram white vinyl.